We were on our way home from the cemetery.

“| cannot accept this!” Aqua was still angry.

The sky was already brightening.

“Sorry. She was so sweet. How could you want to destroy her?”

We’d decided to let the Lich go. And we agreed that Aqua, who had plenty of time on her hands anyway, would go to the graveyard every so often to help along its wandering spirits.

Aqua might have been a pretty rotten goddess, but even she seemed to understand that helping lost souls and the undead was her duty.

Even if she complained about not being able to sleep in anymore.

Darkness and Megumin, who’d at first resisted the idea of letting a monster off the hook, relented when they learned that Wiz had never actually attacked anyone.

| looked at the piece of paper Wiz had given me and muttered: “A Lich just makes her home in this town and nobody minds? Some security.”

The piece of paper gave her address. It turned out she was living in Axel, just like we were.

In fact, she was running a little shop that specialized in magic items.

When | said I’d always pictured Liches living in the deepest depths of some dungeon, she replied that dungeons were awfully inconvenient and there was no reason to go out of your way to live in one.

| got what she was saying: Liches were human once, too.

But even though | got it, this place had sure upended most of my assumptions about fantasy worlds. It was nothing like what my games had led me to believe.

“All the same, | am glad things ended peacefully. We may have had Aqua on our side, but we were still facing a Lich. If it had come to a fight, Kazuma and | would have surely died,” Megumin said casually. | almost choked.

“Erk! Are Liches really that dangerous? Just how close a call was this?”

“‘Close’ does not begin to describe it. Liches have extremely high Magic Defense, and only enchanted weapons can harm them. They can inflict a variety of status conditions merely by touching you, or they can absorb your HP and MIP. Truly, they are legendary foes. Indeed, what | find perplexing is that Aqua’s

a

Turn Undead spell worked on her at al Good point. Liches were at the top of the undead heap, after all.

| was happy to take her business card because she said she would teach me some Lich abilities, but..when | went to see her, | figured I’d be sure to bring Aqua with me.

“Kazuma, gimme that business card. I’m gonna get to her house before she does and place a holy barrier around it. That'll show her!”

“L-lay off it, would you...?” On second thought, maybe I’d leave her at home.

Darkness interrupted my thoughts with a question: “Where does this leave our Zombie Maker quest?” With a sigh, all of us said at once: “Oh.”

Quest failed.